Spring Break
Baseball: Panthers prepare to take on Tootle
Preseason pitcher of the year on tap
Collin Whitchurch/Assisant Sports Editor
Issue date: 4/17/09 Section: Sports
|
The Jacksonville State junior right-hander was the Preseason Pitcher of the Year in the Ohio Valley Conference and had the Panthers' number in his one start against them last season.
He threw 7 1/3 innings of scoreless, two-hit ball against the Panthers in a Gamecocks' 2-0 victory on April 20 of last year. This season he is 3-1 with a 3.58 ERA in eight starts. He has 45 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings pitched.
Tootle will pitch the nightcap of Saturday's doubleheader against the No. 29 Panthers (25-6), which begins at 1 p.m. at Coaches Stadium. The three-game set concludes Sunday with a 1 p.m. matinee.
Senior shortstop Jordan Kreke said having Tootle on the mound brings a little more excitement to the series.
"It's pretty much the same mindset we have every weekend, (to) try to get two out of three and win the weekend," said Kreke, who went 0-for-3 against Tootle last season. "There will be a little more focus with their big draft pick Tootle, but we'll still have the same focus as every weekend."
The Gamecocks (20-13) entered the season as the favorites in the OVC, narrowly edging out the Panthers with 61 votes and five first place votes to Eastern's 60 and four, respectively.
Senior second baseman Jordan Tokarz said the team has been waiting for this series to happen since before the season even started.
"We know J-State won the regular season last season, so we just have to come out and play our best game," he said. "We're looking forward to playing them."
Junior southpaw Tyler Kehrer will oppose Tootle in the second game Saturday, with sophomore right-hander's Josh Mueller and Mike Recchia getting the early Saturday and Sunday starts, respectively.
Kehrer is 3-2 with a 4.86 ERA this season in nine appearances, including eight starts. He worked a scoreless inning of relief in Tuesday's 5-1 victory over Illinois in Champaign.
Kreke said while the team needs to approach the series like any other weekend, he knows a series win would be huge.
"It's a big statement weekend for us," he said. "We just need to go in with the same focus we always have, (while) knowing they're a good ball team."
Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or at cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.
The Daily Eastern News encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The DEN also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.
Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.
Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.
If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Online Editor at DENNews.com@gmail.com.
Be the first to comment on this story